Your House Doesn't Work Anymore. So Do You Renovate, or Move?
I've been working in real estate and home transformations for about a decade now, and the conversation I have more than any other goes something like this: "Our house doesn't quite meet our needs anymore. We've been going back and forth on whether we should fix it or just move."
And I think right now, with where the market is, a lot of people are really wrestling with that question.
The Reason So Many People Feel Stuck
I think there are some overarching themes here, and the big one is mortgage rates. People that locked in at three percent, or somewhere in that neighborhood, are looking at what it would cost to move and get something in the mid sixes, and the financial impact is huge. So for a lot of people, it makes more sense to look at renovation versus resetting the entire financial program.
And that's probably driving a lot of the low inventory we're seeing, too. There are a lot of people who feel attached to their home because of these great interest rates. So the people who are leaning toward finding a new house are running into really tight inventory. And oftentimes the idea of making that move, it doesn't end there. Are you going to find the perfect house in the perfect location with a nice lot? Often you're still going to settle on something, and you might get into a home that needs additional renovations even after making that move.
So that's something to consider. You might get into a home that still needs additional renovations even after making that move.
What Makes a Home Worth Renovating
A lot of the people I talk to are in really great locations. Strong sense of community, great locations, larger lots. Some of these areas that have homes that are 40, 50, even 100 years old are considered some of the best places to live and raise a family. But homes that were built 50 plus years ago were designed very differently. The needs were very different for families back then.
So we have to look at how we can modernize the floor plans of these existing homes, or expand them, or do a blend of both. The areas where we see the most demand are entertaining spaces (people like to host in their homes), the kitchen (the heart of the home), and primary areas for the homeowners: the bedroom, the bathroom, larger closets. You go into homes from the 60s, 70s, even 80s, and sometimes those closets are very small and don't meet the needs of one person, let alone two.
These are also great areas to spend money because those dollars are going to work and really adding value to the home.
When Renovation Isn't the Right Call
Not every house is a good candidate. If the current footprint doesn't meet your needs as far as pure square footage, and it's not simply a matter of re-imagining those spaces and utilizing them better, then we need to look at an addition or a pop top. And that means looking at the lot: do the setbacks and lot coverage even make it feasible? For homes that are 50 to 100 years old, we have to look at the current structure of the foundation and the outer walls. Can it support a second floor?
Oftentimes, even if it can be done, it's going to be a much bigger financial impact to make that original home support that kind of addition. So in those scenarios, sometimes on a small lot with not a lot of room to work, it may make more sense to sell the home and look for a replacement.
The Hidden Costs Nobody Thinks About
When people think about the cost of moving, real estate fees come first to mind. But within that transaction there's a lot of other settlement fees: the mortgage, title company, taxes, insurance, and just the pure cost of hiring movers and furniture storage.
One of the biggest challenges is timing. When you have a home you want to sell, the timing of being able to purchase the new home and sell yours can be very difficult. Sometimes that means two moves: into a temporary rental, furniture storage, the whole thing. The easiest way around that is to get your home under contract and then go find a replacement. But that puts you on a very tight timeline and can be very stressful to find the right home when you're on the clock.
And here's something people forget: you make that move, you find the bigger home, but does it have deferred maintenance? Are you coming due on remodeling work in that house too? You may move and find the bigger home in a great area, but how much needs to be done to get that home into today's standards?
The pain from moving even across the street is really the same as moving cross country. There's always so much you're not accounting for.
I moved recently, just across the street, probably within a mile. And I've done cross-country moves too. The pain is really the same. There's always so much you're not accounting for when you get settled, whether it's furnishing the home, upkeep, or deferred maintenance that wasn't pointed out in an inspection. You always have to have a little slush fund ready for those things.
So Where Does That Leave You?
When you've lived in a house for years, you know what works great. You know what you love about it. But you also know the pain points, the areas that aren't working well for you and your family.
Although it can be a six-month or even year-long process to go through design and construction, when our clients get to see that vision come to fruition and they're back in the home they love, in the location where they've already established their roots, it's really fulfilling. They're happy with the decision they made.
That's really where a design-build approach comes in. When you're working with a team that has the entire roadmap from start to finish, you're the decision maker on the design, the fun decisions. You get to work with an architect and interior designer, explore different ideas, come into a showroom and look at tile and flooring and lighting. And then from that point on, you let the team handle all of the details that you aren't accustomed to. You're not the one managing the permitting, the engineering, the construction schedule. That's what we do. And our clients are always happy they made that decision, because they get to walk through that front door and see a turnkey finished product, knowing that a team had their best interest at heart throughout the entire process.
Both paths have their pain points. But I think the most important first step is just to pick up the phone and get some professional information. Talk with someone who does this all the time. It's a pretty easy, painless process that might only take about a week to have a conversation, have somebody out to your home, and get the financial and process information you need to make a sound decision.
Within about a week, you can have a conversation, have somebody out to your home, and walk away with the financial and process information you need to make a sound decision.
Pat Panzarino is the Director of Sales at Story Renovations, where he helps homeowners navigate the decision to renovate or move. He has spent the last decade working in real estate and home transformations.
